Palm Pre could be ready by May 17

Palm’s savior device, the one that will turn around its fortunes, could go on sale as early as May 17, according to Phonenews.com.

Palm

Citing internal memos, Phonenews is saying Sprint is preparing its employees for two possible launch windows: May 17 or June 29, if the shipments aren’t enough to support the earlier launch date.

The stores should begin to receive shipments by late April or early May in support of the May 17 launch. Sprint has also implemented a vacation-freeze in May for front-end retail store employees, Phonenews said, lending further credence to the May 17 launch date.

Hitting the May window has got to be a high priority for Palm. With Apple expected to show off its next generation of iPhone at its Worldwide Developers Conference scheduled for June 8-12, the pressure is on for Palm to slide in ahead and claim some of the spotlight for itself.